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McWhopper Diplomacy

Burger King is hoping to set aside its rivalry with McDonald’s Corp, well, at least for a day.

The fast-food chain is reaching out to its longtime competitor with an unusual proposal: create a hybrid of each company’s signature burger - The Big Mac and The Whopper - and then sell it at a pop-up restaurant in Atlanta for one day (with Atlanta being the city in hallowed neutral territory, being half way between the McDonald's HQ in Chicago and Burger King HQ in Miami).

The event would be held on Sept. 21, known as World Peace Day. The proceeds would benefit Peace One Day, a nonprofit that wants to make that date an “annual day of global unity, a day of intercultural cooperation on a scale that humanity has never known.”

Burger King says it thinks the McWhopper can bring a one-day “cease-fire” in the burger wars, along with promoting the efforts of Peace One Day.

Burger King created a website, mcwhopper.com, that includes a proposed recipe for the McWhopper. The sandwich has six ingredients from the Big Mac (including special sauce, all-beef patty and cheese), and six from the Whopper (flame-grilled patty, onion, pickles, etc). Burger King has also mocked up hybrid employee uniforms and packaging for the burgers.

“As two of the world’s largest brands, we’re in the perfect position to influence change and leverage our size, scope and resources to help make the world a better place,” the company said in a video on the McWhopper site. “Let’s end the beef, with beef.”